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In a recent Art of Manliness podcast titled "Demonic Males with Dr. Richard Wrangham", Richard Wrangham makes the claim, starting about 28 minutes into the podcast that,

If there was ever a clash between what men wanted to do and women wanted to do, then the authority always resides with the men. In that sense, every single human society is patriarchal. By the way this not just some man saying this, if you take a book edited by two strong feminists called "Women, Culture and Society" in the 1980's and endless chapters by women anthropologists and everyone agrees there are no matriarchal societies.1

This strikes me as a very bold claim and as such, is it generally accepted within the peer-reviewed anthropological community that there are no matriarchal human societies either now or in the historical record? Conversely, is there any strong support from researchers of feminist theory to refute this claim?

  1. Note that the quote might be a bit off since there is no transcript for the podcast, and I believe the book is "Women, Culture and Society" edited by Michelle Rosaldo and Louise Lamphere.
rjzii
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    Not that I would ever take it as a primary source, but the fact that there's a list of Matriarchal societies on Wikipedia suggests that the answer is "No, this claim is unfounded". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matriarchy – Zibbobz Jan 29 '15 at 18:54
  • @Zibbobz I'm not getting the same read on the Wikipedia article. The second paragraph suggests the same as the claim, "Most anthropologists hold that there are no known societies that are unambiguously matriarchal". While a closer reading of the list implies that a lot of them are not matriarchal as would be understood by an anthropologist. – rjzii Jan 29 '15 at 19:35
  • Freakonomics podcast mentioned one clearly matriarchal village (IIRC somewhere in Nepal). It was indirectly implied it was extrenmely unusual, if not unique. – user5341 Jan 29 '15 at 19:41
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    Found it - I think it was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosuo – user5341 Jan 29 '15 at 19:42
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    @DVK Yes, I'd heard of them as well, but I'd also heard that they are controversial among anthropologists with regards to if they are matriarchal or not. It seems like everyone agrees they are matrilineal, there is disagreement on the matriarchal side of things because of political power resting with the males. – rjzii Jan 29 '15 at 20:05
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    You said "political power". But then what does "matriarchy" mean, anyway? Wikipedia says that 'matriarchy' means 'women as the head of the **family**' (but not to be confused with matrilineal). Women as the head of **government** is a different word, e.g. gynarchy or gynocracy. The source you quoted uses the term without distinguishing/defining. – ChrisW Jan 29 '15 at 21:06
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    OK. Also, "Most academics exclude egalitarian nonpatriarchal systems from matriarchies more strictly defined. According to Heide Göttner-Abendroth, a reluctance to accept the existence of matriarchies might be based on a specific culturally biased notion of how to define matriarchy: because in a patriarchy men rule over women, a matriarchy has frequently been conceptualized as women ruling over men,[5] while she believed that matriarchies are egalitarian." – ChrisW Jan 29 '15 at 22:16
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    If you want the stricter definition, then IMO there are two different claims: i.e., "every single human society is patriarchal"; and, "there are no matriarchal societies". You (the OP) are free to choose either or both of these two claims as the subject of your question. Per that stricter definition, IMO most modern first-world societies are more-or-less egalitarian, i.e. neither patriarchal nor matriarchal, and, the author is tempting us towards a "false dilemma" i.e. "fallacy of the excluded middle". – ChrisW Jan 30 '15 at 00:08
  • Let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/20688/discussion-between-chrisw-and-rjzii). – ChrisW Jan 30 '15 at 00:32
  • Matriarchal prehistory as a myth is discussed here-https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/e/eller-myth.html and further discussion about civilizations purported to be matriarchal here-http://www.reddit.com/comments/11i1fl/were_there_any_successful_matriarchal/ – pericles316 Aug 10 '15 at 05:24
  • "Although true matrilineal society does not exist anywhere in the world today, it is commonly agreed that three basic elements of matriliny exist in the present-day matrilineal societies, viz. descent through mother (family name through mother), matrilocal residence system (husband lives in wife's residence), and inheritance of parental property by daughter. Any society where these characteristics exist is considered to be matrilineal. All of these three characteristics are strongly prevalent among the Khasi, Garo, and Jaintia tribes in Meghalaya, qualifying to be matrilineal societies-Pralip" – pericles316 Aug 25 '15 at 06:46

1 Answers1

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According to the US Indian Health Service page Navajo Nation

Traditionally, the Navajos are a matriarchal society, with descent and inheritance determined through one's mother. Navajo women have traditionally owned the bulk of resources and property, such as livestock. In cases of marital separation, women retained the property and children. In cases of maternal death children were sent to live with their mother's family.

DavePhD
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    That addresses descent and inheritance, but who does the authority largely rest with? – rjzii Feb 11 '16 at 21:15
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    "A woman controls the hogan" http://navajorug.com/navajo-indians-matriarchal-society/ – DavePhD Feb 11 '16 at 21:26
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    @rjzii "Traditional Navajo society was matrilineal, matrilocal, and matriarchal. Family name, blood line, and inheritance came from the mother; women controlled the land and owned the home and livestock. Women participated in all aspects of Navajo life, including decisionmaking for the family and clan." https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/abstract.aspx?ID=145413 – DavePhD Feb 11 '16 at 21:28
  • Plenty in Papua New Guinea too, though I forget their names – user56reinstatemonica8 Feb 11 '16 at 23:22
  • Looks like we are on the right track, but the US Indian Heath Service website wouldn't exactly pass the standards for peer review. Have you come across anything in the literature that would back-up the website(s)? – rjzii Feb 12 '16 at 14:23
  • @rjzii true, I think much better is starting at page 22 of "The Navajo" by James Downs https://books.google.com/books?id=yHSuCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA22&dq=navajo+matriarchal+authority&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjk99_aw_LKAhVElB4KHU69AUcQ6AEIIjAB#v=onepage&q=navajo%20matriarchal%20authority&f=false which explains the society was not traditionally an absolute matriarchy, but more to the matriarchal end of the patriarchal-matriarchal continuum. I might add to answer, what do you think? – DavePhD Feb 12 '16 at 15:26
  • Yes, over on Meta books are usually more than acceptable as long as the relevant part is quoted. The opening paragraph of "The Female Principle" is interesting though since it does reinforce the claim made. Maybe a more nuanced view needs to be taken? – rjzii Feb 12 '16 at 16:43
  • @rjzii the claim seems rather vague, but yes the book is saying there are not absolute matriarchies, but Navajo is/was toward the matriarchal end of the spectrum – DavePhD Feb 12 '16 at 16:46
  • Which part of the claim seems vague? "In that sense, every single human society is patriarchal." and "...there are no matriarchal societies." both strike me as fairly firm statements. It seems like you have a developing answer that disproves the first one major claim since authority is clearly jointly held, but the second might still be a bit open if the culture is not classified as a true matriarchal society. – rjzii Feb 12 '16 at 16:51
  • @rjzii if the women are more dominate in the society, does that qualify as matriarchal, or do men need to have no say whatsoever for the society to be matriarchal? That's what I think is unclear in the OP. – DavePhD Feb 12 '16 at 16:57
  • Yes, that makes sense. The definition I've usually heard in the social sciences is that men would have to have no say (i.e. roles of authority) for it to be matriarchal. I just got a book in at home that I can double check later today as well. – rjzii Feb 12 '16 at 18:02